Field
The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for detecting entry and egress, particularly unauthorized egress, of objects from a predefined area with managed entry and exit points.
Description of the Related Art Object theft or loss costs individuals, retailers, owners of goods, and similar entities billions of dollars a year and can involve serious security breaches, loss of confidential and private information, etc. The costs associated such losses are often passed along to consumers, owners, retailers, original manufacturers and governments. Accordingly, object loss prevention systems are used to reduce instances of product theft or loss.
To deter theft or prevent the movement of items of importance, entities often staff one or more employees at the entrance and/or exits of a location. Guards or other surveillance techniques, such as video cameras, may also be used to deter or discourage such unauthorized movement and/or theft. However, such techniques are expensive, require oversight, and may not be effective in preventing the movement of an item from a specific location, particularly in situations where human observation is a main means of deterrence. Alternatively, retailers, for example, might use RF Identification (RFID) tags secured to products, but this commonly requires logging the objects against the RFID tags, securing and removing the RFID tag at the appropriate times (e.g., at intake of inventory and at sale respectively) and as a practical matter is limited to retail products and inventory or similarly controlled environments. Generally, commonly used RFID tag systems are static “many-to-one” systems wherein many RFID tags, which are either unique or not and attached to products, are associated with a single entity, e.g., retailer or warehouse location. RFID tags are no longer useful once the object leaves the premises.
Privately owned objects such as, for example, computing equipment and electronic devices and other valuable items, may be inadvertently taken or stolen from a custodian's current location without the custodian being aware that such loss took place in time to catch the unauthorized person from taking the object or prevent the loss, particularly if the custodian happens to leave the object unattended in a public or quasi-public space, such as at a library or an airport terminal. The retail version of RFID inventory control would not be practical because of the lack of control over registration of the objects at a given location and over privacy concerns. Therefore, technical problems of existing security systems may result in not adequately protecting valuable items from being removed from a specific area because the technology is not conducive to widespread use where multiple entities might be associated with respective one or more objects in a dynamic “many-to-many” environment. Thus, the present inventor perceives a need for technical solution that provides a more robust and effective object control system.